Dr Moopen’s Medical College (DMMC) has received approval from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) to set up an incubation facility under Bioincubators Nurturing Entrepreneurship for Scaling Technologies (BioNest) Scheme. 

Dr Moopen’s Medical College and BioNEST will focus on healthcare technologies involving Biotech, Biomed, Internet of Things (IoT) & Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital health, healthcare economics/management, blockchain and bioinformatics. 

As Dr Moopen’s Medical College is located in an underdeveloped district of Kerala called Wayanad which has a 20 per cent tribal population and limited healthcare facilities, the programme also aims to support regional development by providing better healthcare and educational opportunities and nurturing young talents for technology development.

The incubator is equipped with DSIR2 recognised Biomedical Research Laboratory with specialised facilities and a small animal laboratory and is supported by a hospital information system, laboratory information system, PACS, Digital Health Databank and Clinical Simulation Lab. A space of 11,000 square feet has been dedicated for incubation. The expected project cost is Rs 6.5 crores. 

In Phase 1 (3 years) DMMC BioNEST plans to support 10 startups as physical incubates, 5-10 startups as virtual incubatees and three start-ups from the BIRAC network for field validation every year in the areas of digital health, healthcare and biomedical technology development. It is anticipated that at least 30 startups will get successfully incubated in the BioNEST and few of them graduate as successful exits with indigenously developed innovative technologies at the end of Phase 1. 

The current industry partners for this initiative are Aster DM Healthcare, Agappe Diagnostics, Applied Materials, Motherson, Intel Pixel – Fuji Film and CARPL.